Donald Lang

Who is Donald Lang?

Donald Lang was charged with having killed two prostitutes in Chicago, in 1965 and 1971. The cases achieved national attention because Lang could not be convicted as he was deaf, mute, unable to read or write, and did not know lip-reading or sign language.

Lang, an African-American, was 6 years old when his parents divorced; subsequently his mother could no longer afford tuition for his special training. Lang had worked at Chicago truck loading docks when he was charged with murder in 1965, shortly after the death of his mother. He had picked up a prostitute who was found stabbed to death the next day. Police found blood stained clothes in Lang's home. When the case could not go to trial, he was ordered confined to a mental hospital in order to learn sign language so that he could stand trial. When this failed, his lawyer pressed for a trial; a key witness had died, the case was dismissed and Lang was freed in February 1971.

Five months after his release, another prostitute was killed in Chicago. Blood stains were found on Lang's clothes and he was arrested again. The case went to trial. As one piece of evidence, prosecutors introduced a drawing Lang had made during his interrogation, showing a woman with an "X" drawn over her. He was convicted in 1972 by a jury and sentenced to 14–25 years in prison. In both cases he was represented by the deaf attorney Lowell J. Myers. The verdict was overturned in 1975 by an appellate court, ruling that Lang had not been able to adequately defend himself.